How to feed an elephant

As part of our Sun City vacation over a week ago, we took an excursion to interact with the elephants.  After a short game drive we arrived at their Wallow as it was called.  There were rhinos, elephants and some zebras all wondering about.

Baby on left, mama laying down on right

 Pretty amazing to see a rhino that's only 25 days old, look how big he already is.  He stayed right by his mama the whole time, not too keen on human interaction.  But despite that nice surprise, the main reason we came was to interact with the elephants.  I did not know what all this would entail or for how long, but once the excursion was done Mark and I both thought it was one of the greatest animal interactions we have had yet.

After a small debriefing which Adalyn was running around the entire time so I did not hear any of it and just hoping I could keep myself from getting trampled, we headed over to the feeding circle.  There were 4 adult elephants with the oldest being 28 years old.  The guides stated that elephants in captivity will live well over 70 years as that is the norm in the wild.  There was also 1 teenage elephant who acted as the babysitter to the baby elephant that stood next to his mama.

Baby elephant on left, teenager on the right

 The elephants of course know the drill and that when tourists are around they are going to get fed.  The feed is a mixture of grains, vitamins, minerals, and molasses. I guess the elephants need a little coaxing with some sugar to eat their feed.

There were two options to feed the elephants, either through their trunk which the elephant would suck the feed out of your hand then bring it up to it's mouth to eat.

 Or you can tell the elephant to "trunk up" and he/she will lift their trunk for you to put the food directly into their mouth.

I was beyond impressed that the elephants were so well trained that I could just say "trunk up" and it would lift it's huge trunk straight into the air over it's head to get a handful of food.  I was worried that the elephant would bring it's huge trunk down on top of me, but the guide said he won't until the food is in it's mouth.  So you could hold the food right up to it's mouth without putting it in and get some great pictures.  I still tended to back out quickly as the last thing I want is smacked in the face with a trunk.

We were also able to pet the elephants as we were feeding them.  They felt very rough like car tires and their hair was very prickly like pine needles.

Of course like most animals we have interacted with, they have quite long eye lashes.  The elephant's tongue felt like a cat's, a little rough but it's mouth was soft and squishy like our own.  The suction power that can come from their trunk is similar to a vacuum.  I was able to hold and play with one of the elephant's trunks and it would blow on me through it's trunk, hot and smelly but fantastic none the less.

The elephants were very good to stay behind the 2 foot wall, although the teenager did try to come over a time or two.

 The baby elephant would also stop to get milk from her mama.  We were not allowed to feed the baby elephant as the guides said they do not know when to stop eating and need a more specialized diet.  We could feed the teenager but only though the trunk.  There was a guide with each elephant who held the large pointed stick but I am sure if the elephant really wanted something, there was little to stop them.

The entire experience lasted 2 hours complete with refreshments and snacks offered.  Adalyn fed a few animals but spent the majority of the time playing in the elephant's feed.  I figured if she was at least occupied and not scared then all is well.  Feeding the elephants was an amazing experience and I am once again impressed with the wildlife in this beautiful country.